DOE opens 29 investigation papers on open burning

The Department of Environment (DOE) is preparing 29 investigation papers on open burning cases to be brought to court, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel.

From January to March 20, DOE detected 2,402 open burning cases encompassing agriculture land (775 cases), bushes (559), forest (527), construction sites (60), rubbish dumps (44) and industrial sites (20). He said there were also 417 cases of minor open burning, he said in a statement here on Saturday.

During the period, 130 open burning cases were compounded while 58 cases were issued warning notices.

The action was taken following the detection of haze on February 14 at Port Klang before the situation worsened on March 14 when Port Klang and Banting recorded hazardous Air Pollutant Index (API) readings.

"The haze was due to domestic sources such as large scale land and forest fires in Selangor, Perak, Pahang, Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu," said Palanivel.